George Russell has denied that he is in contention to take the Formula 1 title in 2025, despite the Bahrain Grand Prix validating the progress that Mercedes has made.
Russell’s outstanding beginning to the season continued in Sakhir last weekend as he overcame late trouble with his Mercedes to seize his third podium in four races.
Mercedes emerging as the main challenger to McLaren had added significance as it authenticated that the team has resolved a limitation that plagued it during 2024.
The German marque’s W15 transpired to be a capricious car that would drop outside its optimal working window whenever the temperatures resided on the high side.
However, Russell’s showing on a weekend that combined scorching track conditions and an abrasive asphalt has suggested Mercedes has addressed that weakness.
Asked how much confidence his second-place result inspired, Russell told media including Motorsport Week: “Yeah, a lot of confidence, to be honest.
“This was the real sort of test for us. We knew that our car likes the cold conditions, and the competitiveness we showed in China and Suzuka was no major surprise.
“But this was going to be the question mark – here in Bahrain. And we’ve had another strong weekend. So it bodes well for the season.”
Mercedes ‘better than expected’ in Bahrain
But Wolff concurred with Russell’s assessment, as he expressed that Mercedes’ competitiveness relative to the opposition exceeded the team’s internal expectations.
“We would have expected that Bahrain would have been one of the very difficult ones for us, because of one, [the temperature], and the very granular, rough circuit,” he said.
“And I think in the end we qualified P2 and P4. We had a car that was able to be solid on the podium, and that is better than we expected.
“You can call a race a success if you win, but, in the circumstances, one could say it was much better than we expected.”
Russell downplays championship talk
Russell repelling Lando Norris’ advances on the last lap to split the McLaren drivers in Bahrain ensured that he reduced the gap to his leading compatriot to 14 points.
However, the Briton, who has insisted since the opening round that McLaren is guaranteed to win both championships, suspects a maiden title tilt will come too soon.
Asked whether he is a genuine challenger in 2025, Russell responded: “I’d love to say so, but I don’t think we are, to be honest.
“McLaren are just too dominant right now. I think this is probably going to be their peak performance – what we saw this week in Bahrain.
“And what we saw in China and Suzuka is probably their worst-case scenario and they still obviously got one victory from those two races.
“So we’ve got to keep on picking up the points, picking up the pieces.
“And this weekend we picked up the pieces to get a P2 – and we did it in Melbourne as well to get the P3.
“I don’t expect this to continue for many races to come, but who knows.”
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… not my particular area of scholastic expertise, I happened to be following along, as always, live F1 timing and scoring, when George Russell electronically vanished from our monitors. Lots of these kind of assets floating around the Persian Gulf, no small wonder if Russell (e.g., Englishman in a German car) found himself singled-out, zapped? Corporation engineer, whacked out Islamic terrorist, field evaluating their new toy? Perfect proving ground, for a trial RFID attack? Grand Prix of Bahrain? Sizable gap between Piastri in the lead McLaren to second placed Russell approaching mid race, conceivable how someone might single-out a particular transponder, without affecting neighboring transponders?